It's rare to have a clean and just purely intellectual Saudi friendship.
I met this guy, his name is Sami, around 3 weeks ago in the gym. He is a businessman, married, with 4 kids. He goes around the world to meet contacts, try new businesses, etc. (which I think, he is open to literally all kinds of business, just trying to know what is there for him, or maybe just because he literally have no idea on how he should spend his money).
There was wisdom in what he said last night to me, about his reason why he watches global news. He said, it's good to watch news that features other countries and what is happening to them, because you begin to think and finally convince yourself that your big problem is NOTHING compared to what is happening to that side of the world.
Come to think of it, what he said was true. There is such a therapeutic effect if we look at these news that way. We begin to be thankful of what small we have.
I remember a friend though, whom I was watching news with, he was really upset and angry about what he is watching, he was saying words like "uhhm! buti nga sayo! sige!". I asked why the passionate remarks, he said "those guys are just annoying me, etc., and what they got is what they really deserve".
We have different views of things really. Some people look at things as if there is nothing wrong with them, and so, they become too arrogant to malign and put others down. They easily forget that they too have just been given the chance (or multiple chances), have been forgiven, and have been accepted inspite of who they really are. They easily pass judgement on others who committed a mistake, instead of being a part of the solution and make the life of that person better. This is the same with what someone said in the past, you become like a person who just looked at yourself in the mirror, but immediately forgotten what you looked like right after.
I super agree with what the Bible said in the first few sentences of 1 Corinthians 13:
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. "
We may be very talented, religious, Christians of years more than others, if we fail to love, we are nothing. We may be gifted, read religious materials all day and night, scholars in fields unphatomable for the ordinary, filled with knowledge and can perform miracles, but we don't know how to love, we are nothing. We may be blessed with so much, but don't love, we gain nothing.
In closing, we should not only know how to define love, but more than anything, we should know and be able to practice it to others. Afterall, we can love especially if we know how much God loved us first.